Door opening and closing mechanism



H. E. DOAN.

DOOR OPENING AND CLOS-ING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAII.24, 1919.

Patented July 27, 1920.

E g/ZU ww UNITED STATES` .PAT-ENT' OFFICE.

HOWARD E. DOAN, OFJO'LIET, ILLINOIS.l

DOOR 'OPENING AND CLOSING MEOIIAIIISM.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, HOWARD E. DOA-N, a

citizen of the United States, and a resident of Joliet, in the countyv of Till and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door Opening and Closing Mechanism, of which the following is a specification. n

My invention has reference to means for controlling the movement of doors, gates and the like. lMore particularly stated, my invention relates to apparatus for opening and closing sliding or swinging doors, such as areemployed on garages, barns, and similar structuresand which will retain the doors in their closedv positions.

The principle by which I propose to carry out my invention comprises the provision of a `depressible platform Vor. table that is operated by the weight of the vehicle driven onto it, and whichis connected toa tiltable track and guide, whereby a weight thereon l is permitted to gravitate and move the door.

One of the divers objects of my invention is the provision of a 'structure of this character that-shall be entirely automatic in its operation to both open and close the door or doors so Vthat the driver of the'vehicle has not needto alight therefrom to unlock or operate the door manually. Another object is to provide a structure that willautomatif cally lock or hold the door securely inv its closed position. It is frequently thercase in automatic door operating structures'that they may be actuated by persons other than the proper. ones, such as by childrenwho might be playing around thebuilding, and it is therefore a further Object to Vprovide an apparatusof this characterthat can only be actuated by a considerable weight, say in excess of 500 pounds placed upon the depressibleA platform. Further objects arev h;V simplicity and novelty of construction, ease of installation and operation, economy of space, and. nominal cost of manufacture.

. I prefer to accomplish the diversobjects of my invention in substantially themanner hereinafter fully described, and as more'parf ticularly pointed out in the claims,ref erV ence being now had to theaccompanying drawings that forma part of this specification, and Ywhich are merely diagrammatic forthe. purpose of illustration. f

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 27, 1920. Application filed March 24, 1919. Serial No. 284,554. Y

In the drawings,- K l F gure l is a vertical elevation of a portion of a garage, showing my invention installed therein.

Fig. 2 is a plan ofthe entrance portion of Y the garage.

. Fig. 3 is a central vertical section of the depressible platform enlarged. -It will be understood that the principles of-vmy invention are applicable to any type of door, gate or other similar closure for buildings, and I have, for the purpose of convenience,illustrated my invention as applied .to a single door of the sliding type' for a garage. In the. drawings, similar-ref-` erence characters have. been employed yto designate the same parts' throughout the vlews. I 1

By referring'to Fig. l,` it will be observed the wall 4of lthe garage 5 is provided with the usual doorway or opening 6, for the passage of vehicles, which opening is closed by a door 7, providedv at its upper edge withl suitable door hangers 8,' the wheels y whereof. travel upon a horizontal track 9,

extending'along the top of the opening 6 V and to Yone side thereof a distance substan` tially equal to the width of the door. Ads jacent one end of the track is a tiltable arm A10, that is preferably fulcrumednear one i to the door throughthe medium of the iiexible cable 16. The arm lOis normally horizontal so that the weight will be positioned adjacent buty slightly to one side of the ful- `@rumor pivotal bracket l1', inrorder that when the arm is tilted-by lowering the longer end, the weightA will roll down the. rguidewayand pull the door open, a grooved roller or shive 17 ybeing provided at the shorter end .of the Varm to permit the cable to slide freely over the same. f

The arm is retained in its normal horizontal'` position.` by the followingA instrumentalimeans, is connected at one end to the shorter end of the arm 10, While the opposite end of Vthe element 18 is adj ustably connected to the outer portion of a lever19, that is fulcrumed at its opposite end'on apivot bracket 20 se cured to the wall or other convenient portion of the building. Another cable 21 or other suitable element connects this leverf19 tothe movable portion of the depressible platform 22, to which it extends over the pulleys 23; Below the doorway, both inside and outside the building, I construct suitable pits 2l, that maybe of masonry or otherwise, as desired,.that are connected by'passageways extending between their centralportions: Embedded or otherwise mounted in the bottom of each pit, are base plates 25,'from each of which arises a substantially'tubular eX- tension 26, of vconsiderable diameter and the top ior upper-edges whereof terminate below the undersides ofthe platform, while their walls are provided with vertical slots 27, in which horizontally disposed rocking arms 28 are fulcrumed intermediate their ends. Y

y A tubular extension 29 depends' from the underside of each platform 22, so Vthat their lower portions telescope with the lower tubular elements 26, andare each provided with a crosspiece 30, that` coperateswith the inner end 1portion ofthe rock-arm 278. The outer ends of the rocker arms 28 extendV towardgeach other in the channel which 'connects the pits, said arms terminating ,'adjafA oent'eachr other so -that the 'elongated bail on weight 31 may be suspended from.' the ends -of vboth arms, as shown in Fig.` 3 of the drawings. This weight '81 is sulicient to more than'counterbalance the weight of the platforms 22V and their tubular extensions.

29,--inV fact it is designed to keepthe platforms normally up until an additional body weighing more than 500 pounds, suoli as the forward endV of an automobile, is driven or placed upon-either platform, whereupon it will. permit'the platform to depress.

As beforestated, the weightf 31 keeps the platforms up, and in-so doing retains the cables 18 and 21 normally taut, and ofcourse sion is removedfrom the cables, permitting when either'platform is depressed, the tenthe arm 10- to fall and the weight 13 thereon to gravitate down the groove or channel 12,

' pulling the door open. l When the wheelsof thevehicle have moved off of the platforms, the large weight 31 will again elevate the platforms, causing the tightening of cables 1S and 21, which, in turn, elevateV the arm .10

again tok horizontal position. lThe door will nowsbe closed by the falling of Van auxiliary weight 32`eonnected tothe oppositeend of the doorby'a cable 33, Ethatpasses over a pulley 34, it being understood that the-door opening weight 13 is now movable in ahorizontal plane and requires verylittle traction to move it along its track, so that the weight 32'need not be large in proportion to the weight 13, `although the latter is suflicient to elevate weight 32 when the door is being opened., y n l l Itfwillbe obvious, after the heretofore described structureis understood, that divers cliangesare possible without materially de-V parting from the principles involved, and I desire it understood that refinements and modifications of myinvention are contem 'plated as included within the scope of my appended claims@ j What I claim is Y n 1. In mechanism of the kind described a horizontal stationary track, adoor supported therefrom and movable thereon, artiltable arm adjacent said door, a'weight on said arm Vsible platformn in front ofthe door, a depressible.platformen the opposite side of the door, meansl connecting said platforms to said arm, and means cordinated with said yplatforms whereby the vdepression of either of said platforms permitssaidarm Vto tilt and gravitate the weight carried thereby/to move the door., j Y Y Y .Y Y

3."In'meohanism` of the kind `described a movable door,A atiltable, arm fulcrumed adjacent one end'to provide long and short sections upon opposite sides of the fulcrum, a weight movable on the longV section of said arm towardl and away from the fulcrum, means connecting said weight and said'dOOr, a yieldable vmemberfadjacer'it the doorway, and lmeans connecting vsaid member to the short 'sectionof said'jarm whereby said melnf ber normallyholds said arm in neutral posi@ tion in which the weight 'will not gravitate Vand the yielding of said member permits said member to hold said arm in horizontal position, whereby the depression of said member slackens said cable to permit said arm to tilt and gravitate said weight thereby moving said door.

5. In mechanism of the kind described a slidable door, a weight connected to `Said door to move the same in one direction, a tiltable supporting track for said weight, Aa depressible platform, a cable extended taut from said platform to said track and normally holding the same in a horizontal plane to retain the weight inert whereby the depression of said platform by the weight of a vehicle slackens said cable and permits the track to tilt to gravitate the weight and open the door and the return of said platform to normal position tightens said cable and elevates said track to a horizontal position.

6. In mechanism of the kind described a slidable door, a weight connected to said door to move the same in one direction, a

-tiltable supporting track for said weight, a depressible platform, a cable extendedV taut from said platform to said track and normally holding the same in a horizontal plane to retain the weight inert whereby the depression of said platform by the weight of a vehicle slackens said cable and permits the track to tilt to gravitate the weight and open the door and the return of said platf form to normal position tightens said cable and elevates said track to a horizontal position, and an auxiliary weight connected to the door and elevated by the gravitation of the first-mentioned weight ,y whereby when said track is returned to horizontal position mentioned weight toward the fulcrum of the track. 'I

7. A mechanism for automatically vopening and closing doors comprising a movable platform, means for yieldingly maintaining said platform in an elevated position, a door, a weight arranged so that the gravity thereof tendsto close said door, a second and preponderating weight connected to said door, a pivoted track for said preponderating weight, and means actuated by the movement of said platform for inclining and restoring said track so as to cause said preponderating weight to alternately overcome and permit the action of said rstmentioned weight.

8. In combination with a gravity controlled door and devices for actuating said door, of means for retaining said devices normally inactive consisting of a suitable pit positioned adjacent the doorway closed by said door, telescopic tubular members mounted in said pit, a platform carried by the upper tubular member, a lever extended through the lower tubular member and having a weight upon its outer end and a cross rod carried by the upper tubular member and engaging the inner end of said lever.

Signed at Chicago, county of Cook and State of Illinois, this 19th day of March,

HOWARD E. DOAN. 

